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Islamic jurisprudence ''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh. The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and ex ...
, qiyas ( ar, قياس , " analogy") is the process of deductive analogy in which the teachings of the
hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...
are compared and contrasted with those of the
Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , ...
, in order to apply a known injunction ('' nass'') to a new circumstance and create a new injunction. Here the ruling of the Sunnah and the Quran may be used as a means to solve or provide a response to a new problem that may arise. This, however, is only the case providing that the set
precedent A precedent is a principle or rule established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive for a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts. Common-law legal systems place great v ...
or paradigm and the new problem that has come about will share operative causes (, ''ʿillah''). The ʿillah is the specific set of circumstances that trigger a certain law into action. An example of the use of qiyās is the case of the ban on selling or buying of goods after the last call for Friday prayers until the end of the prayer stated in the . By analogy this prohibition is extended to other transactions and activities such as agricultural work and administration. Among Sunni Muslims, Qiyas has been accepted as a secondary source of Sharia law along with ''Ijmāʿ'', after the primary sources of the Quran, and the Sunnah.


Sunni interpretations

Late and modern Sunni jurisprudence regards analogical reason as a secondary source of Islamic law along with binding consensus, following the Quran, and prophetic tradition. While Muslim scholarship in the later period traditionally claimed that analogy had existed in Islamic jurisprudence since their religion's inception,Walîd b. Ibrâhîm al-`Ujajî
Qiyas in Islamic Law – A Brief Introduction
Alfalah Consulting, FRIDAY, 29 APRIL 2011
modern scholarship generally points to Muslim scholar
Abu Hanifa Nuʿmān ibn Thābit ibn Zūṭā ibn Marzubān ( ar, نعمان بن ثابت بن زوطا بن مرزبان; –767), commonly known by his '' kunya'' Abū Ḥanīfa ( ar, أبو حنيفة), or reverently as Imam Abū Ḥanīfa by Sunni Musl ...
as the first to incorporate analogical reason as a secondary source of law.
Chiragh Ali Moulví Cherágh Ali (1844-1895) (also spelled Chirágh) was an Indian Muslim scholar of the late 19th century. As a colleague of Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan he made a contribution to the school of Muslim Modernists and presented reformative thinking ...
, The Proposed Political, Legal and Social Reforms. Taken from Modernist Islam 1840-1940: A Sourcebook, pg. 280. Edited by
Charles Kurzman Charles Kurzman is a Professor of Sociology at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who specializes in Middle East and Islamic studies. Education and employment After completing his B.A. at Harvard University in 1986, he completed his M.A. ...
.
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:
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...
, 2002.
Mansoor Moaddel, ''Islamic Modernism, Nationalism, and Fundamentalism: Episode and Discourse'', pg. 32.
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
:
University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including '' The Chicago Manual of Style' ...
, 2005.
''Understanding Islamic Law: From Classical to Contemporary'', edited by Hisham Ramadan, pg. 18. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006.Kojiro Nakamura, "Ibn Mada's Criticism of Arab Grammarians." ''Orient'', v. 10, pgs. 89-113. 1974 Since its inception, analogical reason has been the subject of extensive study in regard to both its proper place in Islamic law and its proper application.


Validity as a source of law

Among Sunni traditions, there is still a range of attitudes regarding the validity of analogy as a method of jurisprudence.
Imam Bukhari Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, serv ...
, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and
Dawud al-Zahiri Dāwūd bin ʿAlī bin Khalaf al-Ẓāhirī ( ar, داود بن علي بن خلف الظاهري) (c. 815–883/4 CE, 199-269/270 AH) was a Persian Muslim scholar, jurist, and theologian during the Islamic Golden Age, specialized in the st ...
for example, rejected the use of analogical reason outright, arguing that to rely on personal opinion in law-making would mean that each individual would ultimately form their own subjective conclusions.Chiragh Ali, pg. 281.
Bernard G. Weiss Bernard G. Weiss (10 August 1933 – 8 February 2018) was a professor of languages and literature at the University of Utah. He has an extensive publication record and is recognized as one of the foremost scholars in Islamic law, Islamic theology ...
, one of today's foremost experts on Islamic law and
philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...
, explains that while analogical reason was accepted as a fourth source of law by later generations, its validity was not a foregone conclusion among earlier Muslim jurists. Thus, while its status as a fourth source of law was accepted by the majority of later and modern Muslim jurists, this was not the case at the inception of Muslim jurisprudence as a field. Opposition to qiyas came from a number of angles.
Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professo ...
Walîd b. Ibrâhîm al-`Ujajî Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University explains the opposition to qiyas as coming from multiple angles: :Some of them argued that qiyâs is contrary to reason. One argument given in this light was that: “Delving into this method is intellectually repugnant in its own right”. Another argument was: “Islamic legal rulings are based on human well-being, and no one knows human well-being except the One who gave us the sacred law. Therefore, the only way we can know the sacred law is from the revelation.” Other scholars said that qiyâs is not contrary to reason, but prohibited by the sacred law itself.
Scott Lucas
when mentioning Ahmad Dallal’s position on Salafism, states that Dallal: :...declared that Salafism "is better understood as a method of thinking of, or an approach to, authoritative sources than as a distinct school of thought" that includes the elevation of the Quran and sound hadith at the expense of the opinions attributed to the eponyms of the four Sunni schools and the rejection (or sever curtailment) of qiyas


Imam Bukhari

Imam Bukhari maintained a negative position towards qiyas, as he held views aligned with the Zahiris of his time. Scott Lucas states that Bukhari’s rejection of qiyas was placed within the context of what Bukhari perceived as invalid techniques of ijtihad, which included religious innovation (bid’a), ra’y, and tamthil. Lucas also points out common mistakes other scholars make when analyzing Bukhari’s position on qiyas. The biggest source of confusion for scholars is the fact that, while rejecting qiyas, Bukhari accepts the idea of tashbih (comparison), which seems similar to analogy. However, this is not the case, as tashbih is a comparison used in explanation (such as a metaphor), whereas qiyas applies a specific legal ruling to another case. Bukhari is also known for his criticism of those who say that the Prophet used qiyas, and he devoted a section of his Sahih to the topic. Bukhari states: :If the Prophet was asked about something about which he had not received a revelation, he either said, ‘I do not know’ or did not reply until he received a revelation. he did not eplyby means of ra’y or qiyas, due to the
uranic Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weakly r ...
verse, "…in accordance to what God has shown you" (4:105).


Ahmad Ibn Hanbal

On Ahmad's views, Christopher Melchert states “Ahmad and his fellow traditionalists of the ninth century expressly condemned the Hanafi exercise of qiyas…” When compared with Dawud al-Zahiri's intensely negative stance towards qiyas, Melchert also states “Ahmad ibn Hanbal could likewise be quoted, as we have seen, in total rejection of ra’y (opinion) and qiyas (analogy)." Ahmad ibn Hanbal has been quoted as saying "There is no qiyas in the Sunnah, and examples are not to be made up for it”


Support for its validity

Early support for the validity of analogical reason in jurisprudence came from Abu Hanifa and his student Abu Yusuf.
Al-Shafi'i Abū ʿAbdillāh Muḥammad ibn Idrīs al-Shāfiʿī ( ar, أَبُو عَبْدِ ٱللهِ مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ إِدْرِيسَ ٱلشَّافِعِيُّ, 767–19 January 820 CE) was an Arab Muslim theologian, writer, and schol ...
was a proponent of analogical reasoning as well, though his usage was less frequent than that of Abu Hanifa. Acceptance of analogical reason gradually increased within the Muslim world. With the Malikite and Hanbalite schools eventually granting full acceptance as the Hanafites and Shafi'ites already had done, the overwhelming majority of Sunni jurists from the late period onward affirmed its validity.
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
ese scholar of Islam Kojiro Nakamura defined the orthodox Sunni schools in regard to their eventual acceptance of analogy in descending order of that acceptance: Hanafis, Malikis, Shafi'is, Hanbalis and Zahiris. Much work was performed on the details of proper analogy, with major figures such as Al-Qastallani, Al-Baqillani,
Al-Juwayni Dhia' ul-Dīn 'Abd al-Malik ibn Yūsuf al-Juwaynī al-Shafi'ī ( fa, امام الحرمین ضیاءالدین عبدالملک ابن یوسف جوینی شافعی, 17 February 102820 August 1085; 419–478 AH) was a Persian Sunni Shafi'i j ...
and al-Amidi from the
Shafi'i The Shafii ( ar, شَافِعِي, translit=Shāfiʿī, also spelled Shafei) school, also known as Madhhab al-Shāfiʿī, is one of the four major traditional schools of religious law (madhhab) in the Sunnī branch of Islam. It was founded by ...
te school and Ibn Abidin from the
Hanafi The Hanafi school ( ar, حَنَفِية, translit=Ḥanafiyah; also called Hanafite in English), Hanafism, or the Hanafi fiqh, is the oldest and one of the four traditional major Sunni schools ( maddhab) of Islamic Law (Fiqh). It is named a ...
te school providing rules and guidelines still used to this day.


Application as a source of law

Sunni scholar Baghawi gave a commonly accepted definition of analogy in Islamic law: analogical reasoning is the knowledge by which one learns the method of deriving a ruling from the Quran and prophetic tradition. In this case, the above-mentioned ruling should not already be apparent in the Quran, prophetic tradition or consensus. If there is no derivation involved due to the explicitness of the ruling in the Quran and prophetic tradition, then such a person is not, by definition, a mujtahid. In order for Qiyas to be used in Islamic law, three things are necessary. First, there must be a new case for which the Quran and Sunnah of the Prophet do not provide a clear ruling. Second, there must be an original case which was resolved using a ''hukm'', or ruling, from the Quran, Sunnah, or the process of ''
Ijma ''Ijmāʿ'' ( ar, إجماع , " consensus") is an Arabic term referring to the consensus or agreement of the Islamic community on a point of Islamic law. Sunni Muslims regard ''ijmā as one of the secondary sources of Sharia law, after the Qur' ...
''. Third, there must be a common ''illa'', or reasoning, which applies to both cases in an analogous way. These three conditions allow for a ''hukm'' to be made on the new case based on the analogical connection to the reasoning from the original case.


Shi’a interpretations

Not unlike the Sunni
Hanbali The Hanbali school ( ar, ٱلْمَذْهَب ٱلْحَنۢبَلِي, al-maḏhab al-ḥanbalī) is one of the four major traditional Sunni schools ('' madhahib'') of Islamic jurisprudence. It is named after the Arab scholar Ahmad ibn Hanba ...
s and Zahiris, the Shi’a rejected both pure reason and analogical reason completely on account of the multitude of perspectives that would arise from it, viewing both methods as subjective. There are various instances in which the Quran disapproves of a divergence of beliefs such as the following:


Twelver Shi’a

Within the
Twelver Twelver Shīʿīsm ( ar, ٱثْنَا عَشَرِيَّة; '), also known as Imāmīyyah ( ar, إِمَامِيَّة), is the largest branch of Shīʿa Islam, comprising about 85 percent of all Shīʿa Muslims. The term ''Twelver'' refers t ...
Shi’i legal tradition, the fourth source for deriving legal principles is not qiyās but rather the intellect ''’’
'Aql ‘Aql ( ar, عقل, meaning "intellect"), is an Arabic language term used in Islamic philosophy or theology for the intellect or the rational faculty of the soul or mind. It is the normal translation of the Greek term '' nous''. In jurisprudenc ...
’’''. Twelver Shi’a regard the ''
ulama In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
'' (scholars) as authorities in legal and religious matters during the Occultation (''ghayba'') of the Imamah
Mahdi The Mahdi ( ar, ٱلْمَهْدِيّ, al-Mahdī, lit=the Guided) is a messianic figure in Islamic eschatology who is believed to appear at the end of times to rid the world of evil and injustice. He is said to be a descendant of Muhammad w ...
. Until the return of the hidden Imam, it is the responsibility of the ''ulāma’'' to be his deputies and provide guidance on worldly matters. In modern interpretations of Twelver Shi’ism, the most revered and learned scholars are styled as references for emulation ''( marja taqlīd''). This system of deriving legal principles effectively replaces both the Sunni notion of consensus ''(ijmā’)'' and deductive analogy ''(qiyās)'' Accordingly, in the chapter on Knowledge of the Twelver collection of prophetic traditions,
Kitab al-Kafi ''Al-Kafi'' ( ar, ٱلْكَافِي, ', literally "''The Sufficient''") is a Twelver Shia hadith collection compiled by Muhammad ibn Ya'qub al-Kulayni. It is divided into three sections: ''Uṣūl al-Kāfī'', dealing with epistemology, theolo ...
, one finds many traditions cited from the Imams that forbid the use of ''qiyās'', for example:


Ismaili Shi’a

Among the most notable Ismaili thinkers, Bu Ishaq Quhistani regarded the notion of subjective opinion ''(qiyās)'' as completely contradictory to the Islamic notion of '' tawhīd'' (unity) as it ultimately gave rise to a countless divergent conclusions, besides which those who exercised deductive analogy relied on little more than their imperfect individual intellects. According to Bu Ishaq, there must be a supreme intellect in every age, just as Muhammad was in his time. Without this, it would be impossible for any ordinary individual to attain knowledge of the Divine using mere speculation. The supreme intellect, he reasoned, could be none other than the Imam of the age. Bu Ishaq Quhistani referred to the Quranic tale of Adam and Eve to support his argument for the necessity of a perfect teacher who could provide spiritual edification (ta’līm) in place of what he felt were subjective whims and wayward personal opinions (ra’y). Commenting on the Quranic foundational narrative, Bu Ishaq explains that when God taught Adam the names of all things, Adam was commanded to teach the angels, as in sura 2 ( Al-Baqara), ayah 33. Spiritual instruction therefore had its root in the Quran itself, however
Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an entity in the Abrahamic religions that seduces humans into sin or falsehoo ...
, in his arrogance, refused to bow down before Adam. Instead he protested, "I am better than he. You created me from fire and him from clay." Thus the first to use deductive analogy was none other than Satan himself, by reasoning and challenging the command of God to prostrate. It was for this reason that Satan was punished for eternity and fell from favor until the final day. In Ismaili thought, therefore, the truth lay not in subjective opinion (ra’y) and analogy (qiyās), but rather in the teaching of the bearer of truth (muhiqq), that is, the Imam of the time. The supreme teacher therefore exists at all times for the imperfect human intellects to submit (taslīm) to, as is proclaimed in the divine dictate:


Mu'tazilite interpretations

Primarily being a school of theology and not jurisprudence, the Mu'tazila generally did not hold independent positions on such issues. The majority of the Mu'tazila, despite being a distinct sect from both Sunni and Shi'ite Islam, still preferred the juristic school of
Abu Hanifa Nuʿmān ibn Thābit ibn Zūṭā ibn Marzubān ( ar, نعمان بن ثابت بن زوطا بن مرزبان; –767), commonly known by his '' kunya'' Abū Ḥanīfa ( ar, أبو حنيفة), or reverently as Imam Abū Ḥanīfa by Sunni Musl ...
, with a minority following
Al-Shafi'i Abū ʿAbdillāh Muḥammad ibn Idrīs al-Shāfiʿī ( ar, أَبُو عَبْدِ ٱللهِ مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ إِدْرِيسَ ٱلشَّافِعِيُّ, 767–19 January 820 CE) was an Arab Muslim theologian, writer, and schol ...
's views. This resulted in the odd combination of being Mu'tazilite in creed but Sunni in jurisprudence, and consequently most of the Mu'tazila accepted analogical reason in addition to pure reason. Mu'tazilite scholar
Abu'l Husayn al-Basri Abu'l-Husayn al-Basri (died 436/1044) was a Mu'tazilite jurist and theologian. He wrote ''al-Mu'tamad fi Usul al-Fiqh'' (''The Canon of the Foundations of Jurisprudence''), a major source of influence in informing the foundations of Islamic jurisp ...
, a major contributor to early Muslim jurisprudence, said that in order for a jurist to perform analogical reason, they must possess a thorough knowledge of the rules and procedures for which allows the application of revealed law to an unprecedented case, in addition to basic knowledge of the Quran and prophetic tradition. Not all of the Mu'tazila followed Sunni jurisprudence.
Al-Nazzam Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm Ibn Sayyār Ibn Hāni‘ an-Naẓẓām ( ar, أبو إسحاق بن سيار بن هانئ النظام) (c. 775 – c. 845) was an Arab Mu'tazilite theologian and poet. He was a nephew of the Mu'tazilite theologian Abu al- ...
in particular denied the validity of analogical reason wholesale, preferring to rely on pure reason instead.


Qiyas and the Inquisition ( Mihna)

The Inquisition that took place in the middle of the 9th century, which was initiated by the Mutazilite caliph al-Mamun, ensured the persecution of many scholars who did not agree with the caliph's rationalistic views. The most famous of these persecuted scholars is Ahmad ibn Hanbal, who maintained his view that the Quran was not created, but eternal.
Wael Hallaq Wael B. Hallaq is the Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University, where he has been teaching ethics, law, and political thought since 2009. He is considered a leading scholar in the field of Islamic legal studies, and has ...
argues that the Mihna was not just about whether or not the Quran was created. The issues of ra’y, qiyas, and rationalism were all represented within the Inquisition, and Hallaq states “The Mihna thus brought to a climax the struggle between two opposing movements: the traditionalists, whose cause Ibn Hanbal was seen to champion; and the rationalists, headed by the caliphs and the Mu’tazilites, among whom there were many Hanafites” Christopher Melchert similarly argues that the Mihna demonstrated a relationship between the Hanafis of Baghdad, who were associated with the heavy use of qiyas, and the Mu’tazilites.


Historical debate

Before the Middle Ages there was a logical debate among Islamic logicians, philosophers and
theologians Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the s ...
over whether the term ''qiyas'' refers to analogical reasoning, inductive reasoning or categorical
syllogism A syllogism ( grc-gre, συλλογισμός, ''syllogismos'', 'conclusion, inference') is a kind of logical argument that applies deductive reasoning to arrive at a conclusion based on two propositions that are asserted or assumed to be tru ...
. Some Islamic scholars argued that ''qiyas'' refers to inductive reasoning, which Ibn Hazm (994-1064) disagreed with, arguing that ''qiyas'' does not refer to inductive reasoning, but refers to categorical syllogism in a real sense and analogical reasoning in a
metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wi ...
ical sense. On the other hand,
al-Ghazali Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111; ), full name (), and known in Persian-speaking countries as Imam Muhammad-i Ghazali (Persian: امام محمد غزالی) or in Medieval Europe by the Latinized as Algazelus or Algazel, was a Persian poly ...
(1058–1111) and Ibn Qudāmah al-Maqdīsī (1147-1223) argued that ''qiyas'' refers to analogical reasoning in a real sense and categorical syllogism in a metaphorical sense. Other Islamic scholars at the time, however, argued that the term ''qiyas'' refers to both analogical reasoning and categorical syllogism in a real sense.
Wael Hallaq Wael B. Hallaq is the Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University, where he has been teaching ethics, law, and political thought since 2009. He is considered a leading scholar in the field of Islamic legal studies, and has ...
(1993), ''Ibn Taymiyya Against the Greek Logicians'', p. 48.
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...
, .


References


External links


Qiyas (Analogical Reasoning) and Some Problematic Issues in Islamic law
*
Mohammad Hashim Kamali Mohammad Hashim Kamali (Pashto/Dari: ; born 7 February 1944) is an Afghan Islamic scholar and former professor of law at the International Islamic University of Malaysia. He taught Islamic law and jurisprudence between 1985 and 2004. One author ...
, ''Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence'' (2003)
Shi'a site
refuting multiple Qiyas regarding Nikah Mut'ah {{Islamic philosophy Sunni Islam Arabic words and phrases in Sharia Islamic terminology Analogy Islamic jurisprudence